Taken together, microarray assessment of the A  baumannii exponen

Taken together, microarray assessment of the A. baumannii exponential- and stationary-phase transcriptomes indicates that A. baumannii globally regulates its gene expression in a growth phase-dependent manner. Exponential phase growth correlates to expression of biological processes associated with rapidly dividing cells,

protein secretion, and possibly colonization. Conversely, stationary phase growth correlates Daporinad manufacturer to expression of systems that ostensibly promote biofilm maturation. The coordinated regulation of these growth phase-dependent processes may mediate the organism’s ability to colonize and survive in both the host and hospital niche. The two most severe consequences of A. baumannii infection include septicemia and intubation tube-associated SRT1720 pneumonia (Seifert et al., 1995; Sunenshine et al., 2007), both of which lead to bacterial dissemination to distal organs. A common approach to investigate the mechanisms that allow

for bacterial survival and persistence in blood is through the culturing of cells in human serum. Indeed, several A. baumannii virulence factors, including phospholipase D and outer membrane protein A, augment the organism’s ability to survive in human serum and contribute to disease in animals (Kim et al., 2009; Russo et al., 2009, 2010; Jacobs et al., 2010; Luke et al., 2010). However, the question remains as to what additional biological Vitamin B12 systems mediate the ability of A. baumannii to survive in human serum. Defining these molecular components may provide novel strategies for the therapeutic intervention of Acinetobacter infections. As an initial step toward defining these processes, we characterized the transcriptional response of the serum-resistant A. baumannii strain 98-37-09 during growth in human serum. To do so, 98-37-09 was cultured to exponential or stationary phase in 100% normal

human serum, RNA was extracted, and microarrays were used to compare the expression profiles of cells grown in serum to those of cells grown in LB medium, allowing for the identification of genes that most likely contribute specifically to growth in serum, as opposed to growth in general. A total of 547 genes exhibited higher transcript levels (≥ twofold; t-test; P ≤ 0.05) during exponential phase of growth in serum, in comparison with exponential growth in LB medium. Further, 85 transcripts were predominantly expressed within stationary phase 98-37-09 cells grown in serum, in comparison with stationary phase growth in LB. The entire data set is provided in Table S2. As elaborated below, a more thorough assessment of these genes revealed that during growth in human serum A. baumannii upregulates potential virulence-associated biological systems that allow it to acquire iron, invade host tissues, and resist antibiotic challenge.

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